Illuminating means for spinning and twining machines



Jan. 20, 1953 c, Qf MEINERE} 2,625,785

ILLUMINATING MEANS FOR 'sPINNINc; AND TWI'NING MACHINES Filed Aug. 14. 1950 INVENTOR CARL OTTO MEINERS ATTORNEYS Patented Jan. 20, 1953 ENT OFFICE ILLUMINATING MEANS FOR SPINNING AND TWINING MACHINES Carl Otto Meiners, Oldenburg, Germany Application August 14, 1950, Serial No. 179,233 In Germany August 22, 1949 2 Claims.

The present invention relates to spinning and twining machines and is particularly directed to an illuminating device adapted to be arranged in the machines for the illumination and control of the threads.

In the spinningor twining-frames of the ring-, self-actoror fiyer type, which are now being used and which are usually in operation uninterruptedly day and night, it is difficult for the operator of the machine to clearly discern material, and particularly coloured material in the open passage between the drafting means and the thread guiding means, because of the unsatisfactory illumination provided by the customary overhead lights. The operator, who has to take care simultaneously of two machines about 15 meters long, is unable to recognize dark threads at all and, therefore, has to go over the open passage with the back of her fingers in order to find a gap, that is to say a place where a thread has got torn. The reason for this is that the light, thrown onto the machine from above, does not form with the spun yarn, passing in substantially vertical direction from above to below, an angle of reflection which is favourable for recognition by the eye, and that, moreover, the threads are so thin that they do not stand out sufliciently against the background of the machine parts in order to be detected by the eye in the ordinary room-illumination, particularly if the threads are dark or coloured. This, naturally, has its serious drawbacks for the orderly control and performance of the spinning operations. The consequences are Weariness of the operators and undue taxation of their nerves, and in addition to that important losses of material occur because of belated detection of broken threads and idle-running spools.

In order to obviate these drawbacks efforts have been made to improve the general illumination of the rooms as much as possible. This, naturally, requires more powerful bulbs and a corresponding increase in current consumption, but nevertheless does not produce the desired results because the illumination of the threads at the important places where the control by the operator takes place does still remain more or less unsatisfactory. The reason for this is that the general room-i1lumination, however powerful it may be, will not change the unfavourable ratio of brightness of the poorly reflecting thin yarn and of the machine parts, so that the yarn will not contrast with its background and not become visible.

The attempts which have so far been made with lateral illumination or radiation have been without success because of the blinding effect caused to the eyes of the operator by the glare of the source of light. The lateral illumination tried in the past had the disadvantage that it was more effective at the sides of the machine than in the center of the latter, where it was found to be entirely too weak.

The object of the present invention is to overcome these drawbacks by lateral illumination of the thin material to be spun-without simultaneous illumination of the machine partsex clusively at the small open space of about 10 cm. width between the drafting means and the thread guiding means.

According to the present invention this is carried out by the provision of a light source mounted near one of two side walls for the machine frame and adapted to direct a narrow beam of rays of light transversely to the row of threads in the plane thereof, and a mirror mounted on the other side wall in the path of said beam of rays to reflect it. The diameter of the beam of light-rays is only a few centimetres over a distance of about 15 to 20 metres. The light source consists of a lamp and a long focus objective, and is mounted on a cross-member connected at its two ends to the side walls. The mounting means for the light source preferably comprise a cross-member secured at its two ends to the side walls of the frame, a pipe secured to said cross member, and clamping means on said pipe adapted to hold a tubular housing for the light source. The mirror may be provided with antiglare means such as a shield having a dulled surface.

The lamp of the light source is preferably a low voltage lamp having a small point-like filament, or any other suitable point-source lamp.

In order to facilitate the arrangement of the light source in the machine frame, it may be constructed in such a way that the beam produced by the lamp is rectangularly deflected with the aid of prisms or mirrors. In this way it is possible to arrange the light source in th spinning frame in spite of the rather limited space at disposal for the accommodation of the device.

If the spinning machine is provided with an illuminating device as hereinbefcre disclosed, the operator will no longer be irritated by the glare and dazzling caused hitherto by the reflection of light from machine parts, and will now easily be able to control the work of both of the machines, while also the work of the superintendent, who has to supervise the duties of the operator, will be greatly facilitated, as all of the threads are illuminated now like a grid-work at the important place along the entire length of the machine and can be checked and controlled at a glance and at a moment's notice. Increasing exclusively the brightness of the threads instead of increasing the brightness of the whole machine has the further advantage that the general roomilluminatio-n can be reduced accordingly and that in this way important economies in current consumption can be made.

Additional features of the invention will be understood from the following detailed description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, showing by way of example a side elevation, partly in section, of an embodiment of the illuminating device and fastening means therefor. The invention is not confined to strict conformity with the drawing, but may be changed or modified, so long as such changes or modifications mark no material departure from the salient features of the invention as expressed in the appended claims.

Referring now to the drawing in detail, the reference numeral 4 denotes a pipe secured, by means of screws 6 passing through its end 5, to a cross-member 8, fastened at both of its ends to the side-walls la and lb of the frame of the spinning machine. The housing 3 of the optical device, provided with the electric feed wire 9 and containing an electric lamp and a lon focus objective, is secured to the pipe 4 with the aid of the clamping collars l and the screw ll, so that it can be shifted upward and downward and rotated for adjustment and fastening in different planes and directions.

The optical device consists of a bulb [6, a lens I! which forms the rays of light therefrom into a parallel beam, and a device (not shown) such as a mirror or prism arranged to deflect the beam of light to the path shown passin transversely with respect to the threads I.

Provided opposite the optical device, on the inside of the side-wall 1b, is a flange I2, which is secured to the side-wall lb by means of a clamp- 5 ing contrivance I3 and screws or the like and which carries a mirror I5 equipped with a glarepreventing shade [4 which for the absorption of divergent light-rays must be dulled on its surface.

I claim:

1. Lighting means for providing shadow-free and glare-free illumination of threads in spinning, twining, and similar textile machines, comprising a frame for the machine, said frame having side walls and a cross-member secured at its ends to said side-walls, mounting means secured on said cross-member near one extremity thereof, a light source comprising a lamp and a long focus objective carried by said mounting means near one side wall and arranged to direct a narrow beam of rays of light transversely to a row of threads in the plane thereof, and a mirror mounted on the other side wall and arranged in the path of the beam of rays to reflect it.

2. Lighting means for providing shadow-free and glare-free illumination of threads in spinning, twining, and similar textile machines, comprising a frame for the machine, said frame having side walls and a cross-member secured at its ends to said side walls, a pipe secured to said cross-member near one extremity thereof, clamping means releasably mounted on said pipe, a tubular housing held in said clamping means and arranged near and parallel to one side wall, a lamp and a lon focus objective carried in said tubular housing and arranged to direct a narrow beam of rays of light transversely to a row of threads in the plane thereof, a mirror mounted on the other side wall in the path of the beam of rays of light to reflect said beam, and an antiglare shield with dulled surface for said mirror.

CARL OTTO MEINERS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,814,890 Biagosch July 14, 1931 2,279,759 Moore Apr. 14, 1942 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 458,937 Great Britain Dec. 30, 1936 646,699 Germany June 19, 1937 

